Competition Update: Bushnell Brawl – Day 1

Thanks to members of TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia who have followed along on our Facebook page today as I update our photo stream sporadically. At the end of Day 1, my group of guys has managed to shoot ten of the advertised twenty one stages available to us. Save for maybe some strong side prone shooting at 100 yards, every single one of them has been a bear . . .

This competition exists to test the competitors and to put them extraordinarily outside of their comfort zone. And as a range, Rifles Only has just about everything you’d ever need to shoot at. Movers? They’ve got two ranges that do it. Awkward shooting positions? Welcome to the Mousetrap. Fancy yourself a long range shooter? Hope you can call the wind, because it blows 25 mph all the time here.

After spending a day here shooting, I guarantee that if you can come to the Bushnell Brawl and score in the top 10, you’re an awesome shooter. No two ways about it. So here are the good and the bad of the day.

The Bad

The first stage of the day is a zero test. No score. No points. Just you and your rifle to confirm zero. My gun shot 2.4 mils high at 100 yards, a little more than 8.5 inches off target. Not exactly the most encouraging way to start the day.

The very first scored stage had a pistol component. I had five shots and five points available. I hit only three times.

During a stage called, “Barricades on November” I was asked to engage a target at 580 yards from a barrier with three different height positions. At that point, the wind was blowing so hard that I was unable to maintain steady footing. Worse yet, when I got done, the RO/Spotter told me that I’d “barely” missed the target about 5 times times. So close, yet so far off.

The Good

Overall, I’m not sucking nearly as hard as I thought I would. Tomorrow could have me regretting that I ever typed those words, but for now, things aren’t going terribly.

The highlight of the day for me came on a stage called “Know Your Limits” where you shoot four progressively smaller targets at 600 yards from the top of a large shooting tower. Our group of three guys called the wind differently, and my call ended up being correct as I was the only one to put a hit on steel at 600. It felt fantastic. And it definitely helped that the RO/Spotter was an energetic guy who would start to hoot and holler when you got your hits.

The reason the stage is called “Know Your Limits” is that once you score points, you can stop, or engage a smaller target for more points. However, if you miss, you lose all your points. I made the conservative decision, took my one point, and called it a day.

The internet connection in our hotel is exceedingly slow, so I was only able to upload a few photos from the match. Hopefully, they can give you a glimpse into what today has been like.